February 16, 2007I keep running across these strange deals that I have a hard
time passing on. I love my 2000
Mercedes-Benz SLK Sport, which is now seven years old, only has
53,000 miles on it, runs great, is a stunner, and I do so love the
retractable hardtop. This week, as I often do, I went out
test-driving cars for fun. I'm always on the lookout for that car
that I just can't live without, but was only just a little serious about
upgrading as I've only had the SLK for a year. Visited my friend
at the Chrysler dealer in Hudson Wisconsin, who ever since I gave him a
ride in one of my Russian sidecar rigs, the WWII look Patrol, he's been about the
friendliest car salesperson I've ever known. This is a good thing
as he loves to show me cars. Haven't bought one from him yet, but
at the rate I go through cars and bikes I suspect it won't be long
before I do. So, he says, "Ya gotta drive this" and he pointed at
a new Dodge Magnum SRT8. A monster with 425hp and we did get on
it, even with the ESP turned off. Oh wow!! But, $46,000
loaded. Ouch.

After driving the Magnum I had to go to New
Richmond Wisconsin to the Chevrolet/Oldsmobile dealer and chat with the
owner of the dealership who has the most wonderful car collection of
about two dozen Corvettes, Nomads, and 40's street rods. Even a
few sprint cars thrown in the mix. This guy is so car nuts that
when he built his new house he put a paved racetrack in the front.
After looking through bunches of photos of his cars I stopped at the
Chrysler dealer next door, where they had a couple of the limited
production Super Bees. My favorite car of all the 50+ cars that
I've had was my 1969 Dodge Super Bee with a 383Magnum and 4 speed.
These new ones are basically a Dodge Charger SRT8 in yellow with the
bumble bee graphics. Nice! As we were talking the
salesperson, whom was a new one to me, asked what I thought of the
Crossfire. I told him that I really liked the looks, they were
very much like my SLK, but I'd heard they were kind of cheaply made and
slow. He proceeded to tell me that he had a brand spanking new,
still in all the wrapping paper, 2006 Crossfire in Blaze Red, with a 6
speed and it was a convertible. He said that they got it in a deal
from Chrysler for some trucks and it was sort of rammed down their
throats as they have a very hard time selling two seat roadsters up here
in the frozen north. He said it stickered for about $35,500 and
they were willing to get it off their lot for $23,600. He asked if
I were interested and I told him, "probably not" and went to leave, but
on my way I drove around back and took a peek at it.

Oh my, the color was my favorite. Very near the Mercedes-Benz
Firemist Red that I'd wished I could have found when I was looking for
my SLK. It was gorgeous, even wrapped in all the shipping
material. So I went up and found out more. By this time it
was tickling me but I was still inclined to stick with my SLK. I
did have them check out what they'd give me on trade for the SLK.
I was offended by what they offered, but then they are not a Mercedes
dealer, can't sell roadsters up here and they'd have to wholesale it
out. So trade-in was not an option.

Today I went out and drove a 2007 Ford Mustang GT Convertible.
Another monster and nearly as fast as the Dodge Magnum, but not quite my
cup of tea for some reason. Then I drove across the street to the
Stillwater Minnesota Chevy/Jeep dealer (That is a strange alliance,
almost as strange as the GM/Chrysler merger possibility that was on
today's news) and drove a 2007 Jeep Sahara Unlimited. Very, very
nice but I really don't do enough off-roading to ever justify one of
them. But it was fun to drive.

I also called my banker and asked her what would happen to my car
payment if I sold the SLK on e-Bay, paid off that loan and put the
excess (Yes, I owe less than the car is worth which these days is a bit
unusual) down on the Crossfire. She called back and told me that
my payment would increase by $32/mo. Oh my.... What now...
This is getting too hard to pass up, a 2006 Crossfire convertible, seven
years newer than my SLK, and with a real manufacturers warranty for
$32/mo more. So back to the dealer to actually drive it.

The salesman and I went for a ride and I didn't really nail it hard
as it had no miles on it yet, but ran it up to 4,000rpm and about 100mph
and I have to tell you that this thing kicks a**. I couldn't
believe how much difference there was in the power between this and the
Mercedes. I suspect that the Benz would be competitive on a tight
track, but in real world driving, drag racing, or a long road course the
Benz would be lapped in no time. I've also driven several SLK320s,
which are basically the same running gear as on this crossfire, except
they were all automatics and I thought the V6 was a bit anemic.
Thirty more horsepower than my SLK230 but a bit heavier and I really
didn't notice much difference, but pair it up with a 6-speed and Wow! The Crossfire is AWESOME.
That almost nailed it for me. But then when we were all done, he
handed me the key and said, "Take it home for the night." So I
drove it home and you gotta know Patti was surprised when she got home
from work and that was sitting in front of the house. We went out
to dinner in it and she said, "If it really doesn't make much difference
in our finances you should go for it." Nailed.

February 17, 2006
Oh no.... BUSTED!!! Got an e-Mail from Rob Garrick, my
friend at theHudson Wisconsin Chrysler Dealer. Sure enough, he
was reading my site and came across this. Luckily he didn't, at
the time, have a Crossfire Convertible for an incredible price. I
do so hope he understands, and if anyone is looking for a
Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep in the area do see Rob and tell him "Sheldon is
sorry for buying another car somewhere else." He truly is one of
the "White Hat" guys.

So, today I went to take the Crossfire back to
the dealer, and I still wasn't 100% sure this is what I should be doing
until.... I'm driving along highway 64 about three miles away from
my destination at the Dealer in New Richmond where the road goes down a
long, slow hill, and a Bald Eagle soared in from the right and paced me
at about 100 feet from the ground for about a quarter mile before
zooming off to the left. I'm part Native American (Mohawk from the
far east end of Quebec) and bald eagles have always had a very special
meaning to me so I took this as a very good omen.

I had spent the
morning shopping my financing around a bit as without having the SLK
sold first this is a bit of a tricky deal. I don't have a million
dollars in the
bank so things have to fall in place. I ended up
qualified at three different places so it looks like that will not be a
problem. Some people even have trouble getting approved for a
Titlemax Missouri title loan so this was good news. I'll have papers signed Monday and the car will be mine
(actually "ours") officially. The dealer was going to send the car
home with me, but the mechanics were gone for the day, being Saturday at
3:30 p.m., and it needed a couple of more prep things including the
first and second gear shifts need to be adjusted so I told them to fix
that and do the other things and I'll pick it up at 5:30 Monday so I
drove away in my SLK.

I love the SLK, but to move to a new car that is
very similar I think is a very good choice, especially getting a full
factory warranty. It will be a very sad day when the SLK goes
away.

February 19, 2006
Picked up the Crossfire today from the dealer, signed the loan papers
and drove away. I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

May 2, 2007
The SLK sold in April to a lady who is the Superintendant of Schools in
a Western Minnesota town. Her husband is a Lutheran Minister and
they love it as I did and I do miss it, but the Crossfire is also
a blast. I only have about 1200 miles on it so far but I'm sure
they will be adding up this summer.

Crossfire at the Dealer

Crossfire & SLK at the house a few minutes later

June 1, 2007
I love having 1:18 models of my cars so I've been looking for someone
making a Chrysler Crossfire model. I've got half a dozen different
versions of the SLK that I had, and there are several Crossfire Coupe
models but nobody seems to make a Crossfire roadster model. So I
look, and look, and look but without success. Finally I just
happened upon this on e-Bay:

It is about a 1:24 scale all plastic model with Barbie's kid sister
driving it. The good news is that it says "for ages 3+
years" so it should be ok for me to have it. I actually snagged
two of them on e-Bay so I'm really set.

March 28, 2008 - Still lovin' my Crossfire! Took it out of storage
about two weeks ago but might have jumped the gun. Two days before
this photo I was riding around with the top down at 50 degrees f., and
on March 18th we had a bunch of snow.

July 2008

July 30, 2008 --

Had a bad, bad, bad couple of weeks. On Thursday the 17th
of July I had to drive from my home in Houlton WI (Just across the bridge from
Stillwater MN) to the site of the Wolf’s Head Motorcycle Rally in Cloquet MN,
stopping at St. Croix Harley-Davidson in New Richmond WI. A little bit out of
the way but I was looking forward to the drive out of New Richmond on Hwy 65
North. Hwy 65 between New Richmond and Hwy 8 is a very twisty road with only a
couple of straights; perfect for a Crossfire Roadster, and the weather was also
perfect. Got about 18 miles north of New Richmond, came around a 10mph corner
at about 20mph which was way below what I could have done, and “thump, thump,
thump”, a blown right rear tire. Argh!!!!!!!!

I won’t bore you with the story of talking to Chrysler
Roadside Assistance, only to find out that they do not cover tires, only
mechanical failure. So then on the telephone to try to find a flat-bed to carry
the car back to Bernard’s Chrysler in New Richmond where I had bought the car.
They tried to find a tire but the only one in that size was in Chicago so they
shipped it overnight. The car only has 8,000 miles on it but the dealer said
that there wasn’t the required tread depth to get any warranty on it. Bummer.
So the car was left overnight and on Friday morning at 11:00 a.m. they called to
tell me that it was ready. Got there and almost fell over when I was handed the
bill for $443.00. The tire was $262, then towing and labor. Ouch, but paid it
so I could get on the road.

Went to my Rally in Cloquet and stayed at my business
partner’s house. The next morning he came in to tell me that I had a flat
tire. Sure enough the same right-rear tire was flat. I finally pulled the air
pump out of the trunk, pumped up the tire and headed to Carlton to the Truck
Stop/Tire Dealer. Sat for three hours on a Saturday morning while they tried to
work it into their schedule. When they finally got it up on the lift they took
one look at it and said, “we aren’t touching that.” Sure enough there was a
crack in the center of the rim. Was a slow leak so I took my chances and drove
it home stopping only once to air it up.

Monday morning I went to Bernard’s and left the car. They
gave me a loaner, MINIVAN!!!!!! The only car they had available. Coming home
my neighbors pointed and laughed, when I got there my son pointed and laughed.
Even my 11 year old grandson, who has never seen me in anything but a sports or
muscle car, pointed and laughed. I’m sure his psyche is damaged for good. He
will always picture his old granddad driving that monstrosity. The dealer
called me last Tuesday morning and said that it looks like something may have
cut my tire and hammered the crack into the rim. I argued my point with no
apparent success. They told me the new rim would be $700 and the closest one
(the Special Edition SRT6 wheels with grey centers) was in San Diego CA. Can’t
be too much further from here. I told them to order it and if I have to pay for
it I will, but still insisted that it should be warranty and that might have
been what caused the tire to go down in the first place. On Friday I ran up
there to photograph the rim and they told me they were expecting it to arrive on
Monday the 28th and that the Chrysler rep. would be there also on
Monday. They called me Monday to tell me that the wheel had arrived, and that
the Chrysler rep. said that he would warranty the wheel, but only with “customer
participation.” He only hit me for $100 which at that point I thought was
fair. I also turned in the $141 towing bill to State Farm and they issued a
check the next day. So counting the $10 the guy in Cloquet charged me to look
at it I was out a total of $412.oo and I got my car back on Tuesday the 29th.

I guess I should be grateful that they warranted it at all.

And then... The last time I
saw the car was when it was sitting on the north side of their building with one
wheel off and up on blocks. When I picked it up and drove away I got about
three blocks before I realized something was wrong with my Wind Restrictor.
I think my first clue was the Lexan screen poking me in the side of the head.

I pulled over and gave them a call and they told me that they had needed that
spot so they'd moved the car to the main lot. Full sun for several days
with the temps in the upper 80's f. to 90, black top, black interior. Must
have been like a blast furnace in there and it got hot enough to warp my custom
Wind Restrictor. Oh well. Called Stephen at Wind Restrictor and he
told me that the only other time this had happened it was to a woman who lived
in the desert Southwest. They said, no problem they would replace it.
I guess I lucked out again but from now on I will surely park in the shade or
crack the windows.

September 6, 2008John Bellingham and I spent most of the day at Motorbooks
International's Wheels & Wings in Osceola Wisconsin.

October 20, 2009
In these days of wildly fluctuating gas prices, uncertainty of the supply of
fossil fuels, and the harm they do to the environment it is only natural that
one would consider having an alternatively fueled vehicle for commuting or short
distance trips. All alternative fuels have their own set of problems that to
this time have either been insurmountable or their viability is so far in the
future as to be a moving target. As ethanol production has ramped up we’ve
learned the hard way that converting food to fuel has turned out to be a
terrible idea as one can see on any trip to the grocery store. Converting
electricity to hydrogen then back to electricity is burning fuel to make a
storage agent to make fuel and may one day prove to be the hot ticket but for
now that seems to be 30 to 50 years in the future. Gas/electric hybrid vehicles
are all the rage and so far they have managed to increase the range of a gallon
of gas by about 5-10 percent but at an initial premium at car purchase time of
$1,000-$10,000 depending on what make and model is bought. Diesel hybrids are
starting to hit the streets of Europe but may not come here for some time as
this country doesn’t have the infrastructure to make much more diesel than we
now have. We’d have to build additional refineries if we had even a small
increase in the number of diesel vehicles on the road which could keep supply
low and price high for many years.. The amount of research that goes into
alternative fueled motorcycles lags far behind that for cars and is almost nil.

I drove my Chrysler Crossfire roadster to New Richmond Wisconsin to pick up
Vectrix at St. Croix Harley-Davidson/Ural/Vectrix. Sent Son #1 back home with
said vehicle and I mounted the bike to ride it home, although... I only
eventually made it. The domicile is about 16 miles from "there ta here" and the
instrument panel said I had a full charge although it only showed 18 miles range
available. Dell at St. Croix thought the gauge was probably off because it had
only been moved around their place for the last few weeks and they had put a
full charge on it before passing it off to me. About 10 miles down the road it
still read “18 miles” range, then started to come down as slowly as would
normally be expected. Got about 4 miles from home and it read 9 miles left and
then a little red battery icon lit and the speed dropped to 30mph. So I'm
thinking maybe it has a "limp home mode" that came on when below 10 miles, but
not to be. Another 1/4 mile and it almost came to a halt so pulled over, got out
the user's manual and looked for that icon in the book which said that it was a
"Battery Malfunction" icon and that if it comes on you should immediately call
your dealer for maintenance. Not a good thing.

I pulled out the ever-present cellular thing-a-ma-bob and rang up Dell. He and
his wife Ginger jumped in their Dodge panel truck and within 15 minutes I had
another Vectrix. This one seemed pretty normal as it said I had 23 miles range
left and I had only one very small problem in the time I had it. I believe that
the failure of the first one was an anomaly and just part of the teething pains
of an entirely new class of motorcycle. The literature says that they have a
range of "up to 55 miles” on a full charge and cruising the Internet I found
reports of folk getting 70mpg. Supposedly you must deep cycle the batteries at
least 5 times before you will experience "extended range" but others claim 40
miles would be a pretty normal range on a new bike. I'd have to question at what
average speed one could expect to see the marvelous sounding "extended range."
Apparently running at 50-55mph one would see less range than if cruising around
town at 30 with lots of regenerative stopping. Although I suspect there are not
a whole lot of riders who weigh 295 pounds. Maximum weight of passengers and
gear is 353 pounds so with my clothes, boots, helmet, and brochures in the
under-seat storage area I'd guess it was getting close to its maximum takeoff
weight.

Vectrix uses a Nickel Metal Hydride (NIMH) battery pack of 125 volts whose
recharge time is only 2.5 hours to 80 percent charge and it is guaranteed for 10
years or 50,000 miles. The motor is a brushless DC, radial air-gap type putting
out a maximum 5.1 horsepower. Because electric motors produce great torque, 65
ft. lbs. in this case, acceleration is quite good at about 7.5 seconds to 60mph,
with a top speed of 62mph. It does cruise effortlessly at 55mph and with front
and rear Brembo disc brakes, Marzocchi telescopic fork and Sachs Twin Shocks it
brakes and handles quite well although much of the braking is done
regeneratively so the pads should last a very long time. The bike comes with a
24 month warranty.

Moving the thing around in the garage was tough because of its 515 pounds and
small tires at 14” front and 13” rear. At least it “was tough” the first couple
of times; till I read the Owner's Manual and found that not only does the
throttle turn backwards for regenerative braking but it also doubles as a
slow-speed reverse and that is indeed a handy feature on any bike. Storage
consisted of a 1.41 cubic foot space under the passenger seat which will hold a
full-faced helmet gloves and a few other necessities. There is also a .21 cubic
foot glove compartment in the fairing and both compartments have electric locks
that are controlled by the dash mounted ignition key. On one particularly bumpy
stretch of Minnesota back road the glove box popped open, although because of
the shape nothing could conceivably come out and it easily popped back into
place.

The bike has an interesting starting procedure: turn on the ignition key and the
electronic dashboard lights, pull in the left brake lever, then the right one
and a large green “GO” will light on the dash to inform you that you are ready
for riding. I’m used to riding Harley-Davidson, Moto-Guzzi, Moto-Guzzi sidecar
rigs or Russian Ural sidecar rigs so over my 44 years of riding my bikes have
attracted a certain amount of attention. The Vectrix is at exactly the opposite
pole in that regard and it was apparent that people saw it as just another
scooter and virtually no one took more than a passing glance at it. So, if you
prefer to be anonymous this would be the bike for you as stylistically it blends
in with the background, and I was riding a bright blue model. If you are
interested in commuting at non-freeway speeds to work and back for a couple of
cents a mile you couldn’t do better. As with any new technology the price is a
bit high at $10,995 although I’m told that in some markets the dealers are
deeply discounting them.

Five days with one isn’t really enough time to fully appreciate a bike but I
believe my time with a Vectrix was a glimpse into the future of motorcycling.
Not this decade, or the next, but in twenty to thirty years motorcycles of all
shapes and sizes will be whizzing around our roads, silently, without pollution,
and probably much more capably than our present internal combustion engined
bikes. In that timeframe we can expect 80 pound battery packs that give 500 mile
range, acceleration that will be beyond belief, and because of the low center of
gravity bobsled tight cornering. I do like it.

February 15, 2009
A very bad day. Patti and I have both had some health problems recently,
including my have leg surgery last November. Today is my 59th birthday,
and it was also the day that the new owners picked up their 2006 Crossfire
Roadster. About killed me to see it go but the Doctors, Hospitals,
Ambulance companies, radiologists, anesthetists and on and on and on had to have
their pound of flesh so the Crossfire had to go. For the first time since
I was 14 years old I am now without a fun car or a motorcycle. I still
have my '83 AMC Eagle SX/4 Sport 5-speed, but... It hasn't run in months,
needs a clutch servo, tire, battery and more before it can get on the street.
Might be some time, so I'll be at the mercy of my lovely wife who's 2006 Buick
Rendezvous is now our only running wheels. I hope we can get beyond this
and one day soon I'll be up on two, three or four wheels.

March 23, 2010 Update:Lots of water has passed under the bridge since my last
update and life has certainly flowed by for us. I lost some weight,
started to feel a bit better and had my perfect brand-spankin' new 2006 Chrysler Crossfire Roadster.
It was awesome and I absolutely loved it and for a time I had both the SLK and
the Crossfire. Then my health sort of crashed and I was losing the use of
my legs. By the fall of 2008 I had to rely on crutches or a wheelchair to
get around. I was in a world of hurt. Up till then my doctors had
not wanted to do surgery on my leg for fear of what could go wrong. It was
not your normal leg in that when I was ten years old I'd had an experimental
surgery on my left (my good) knee that made it tough for them to predict the
results if they'd started chopping. Here is that info.

In November of 2008 the docs finally figured
they had to give it a try and they cut off the top of my tibia and the bottom of
my femur, inserted 8 inch spikes up each and attached a bionic knee. To me
it was like a miracle! Two days after the surgery I was walking with only
a cane and two weeks later I was walking without any support. Absolutely
incredible. Unfortunately at the time we didn't have very good insurance
and I had huge medical bills to pay and had to sell the Crossfire. I was
absolutely crushed to once again see one of my babies go away on a flatbed tow
truck. So my "toy score" is now just the non-running AMC Eagle SX/4 Sport.
I've been without a car now since February 15, 2009 which has been a killer and
it looks like I will have no toys any time soon. Patti still has her Buick
Rendezvous but in June of 2009 Patti lost her job as a telephonic Registered
Nurse and hasn't been able to find another. It has been 9 months so we've
had to pull in our belts and just try to get by. It is tough as she was
making good money and with what I took in we had our bills paid. Now it is
a struggle living month to month. Luckily I've been able to pick up a
little consulting work or some Web site design jobs for a little extra each
month. The saga isn't quite over yet and I'm sure there will be many more
adventures down the road. Vaya con dios....